Even before a single Canadian Lingerie Football League game was played, league governors ranked the Saskatoon Sirens last among the league’s four teams. Fast forward two-and-a-half months and the Sirens are now ranked number one in the country and about to face off against the British Columbia Angels in the first-ever Canadian Lingerie Bowl Nov. 17 in Abbotsford, B.C.

“Right from the get-go we had something to prove because we were ranked last in the league,” said Sirens linebacker Lindsey Berger.

The Sirens shocked the league when they started the season with two consecutive wins.

“I believe that [ranking] motivated us right from the beginning, and throughout the season we kept that up,” added Berger, a fifth-year University of Saskatchewan arts and science student.

The Sirens completed the season with a 3-1 record and earned their spot in the Canadian Lingerie Bowl by defeating the Regina Rage in the final game of the regular season Oct. 21.

Prior to that game the Sirens had lost their only game of the season to the Rage.

Saskatoon avenged that loss in the Oct. 21 game with a dramatic 35-33 upset. The Rage were ranked number one at the time. Strong defensive play, including an interception by one of the Sirens’ U.S. import players, Anne Erler, and a team fumble recovery kept the Sirens offence on the field longer. The extra time helped the Sirens offence rack up 139 rushing yards on 26 carries along with 29 passing yards on two completions.

“The game was the most intense game there has been in LFL Canada this year,” Casey Simpson said. Simpson poses a threat on both sides of the ball as she plays tailback on offence and linebacker on defence.

She has collected 28 rushing yards on 15 carries in her four games so far this season. Defensively she has four tackles against opposing teams and one forced fumble.

Despite nearly four weeks between their last game and the Canadian Lingerie Bowl, Simpson says the team remains focused on winning the championship game.

“We haven’t missed a beat practicing. We practice three times a week and a lot of us do stuff on our own too,” Simpson, a U of S student in the nursing program, said. “So I don’t think anyone has veered off the focus of the big game.”

Simpson admits she didn’t know what to expect in the team’s first game of the season Sept. 1, but says she and the team have come a long way. And now, only days before the championship game, she says with confidence that she wants to be back with the team next year and wants to see the Canadian league grow.

“I definitely want to play again next year and I think most of the girls on the team could say that.

I only hope there are more games next year because four games is not a lot. Hopefully there are double the number of games and more teams too,” Simpson said.

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Photo: Lingerie Football League